Safety razor



May 19, 1936. J. E. M'cWlLLlAM SAFETY RAZOR Original Fild Au 15, 1952 ATTORNEYS Patented May 19, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SAFETY RAZOR Application August 13, 1932, Serial No. 628,688 Renewed April 4, 1935 Claims.

This invention relates to safety razors and safety razor blades of the double-edge flexible type. In razor assemblies of this type now on the market, as for example the Gillette, the blade is clamped and flexed between a cap or clamping plate and guard member, and, held against transverse movement .relative to the cap and guard by means of pins or bars making snug engagement with corresponding apertures lying in the longitudinal center line of the blade. The blade is thus held symmetrically with reference to the guard and with any given adjustment of flexure both edges of the blade will give the same kind of shave.

In accordance with the present invention I hold the blade against bodily transverse movement with reference to the cap by interengaging means on cap and blade, offset from the longitudinal center line, and form the cap with a smaller radius of curvature than the guard to provide an intervening space when the parts are assembled. One shaving section of the blade is thus effectively much wider than the other, and under shaving pressure the wide side is more readily flexed than the narrow one bowing upward in the space intervening cap and guard. As a consequence one side of the blade presents a yielding edge to the beard While the other side presents a relatively unyielding edge. The yielding edge is better adapted for the first strokes of the shave, particularly when the beard is stifi or wiry, while the unyielding edge will be used for the finishing strokes. The flexure of the blade, and hence the distance of the cutting edge from the guard teeth can be regulated, as is customary, by varying the clamping pressure between cap and guard, and by the same adjustment the resiliency of the yielding edge can be controlled.

In my preferred form the cap is provided with depending flanges which overhang the ends of the guard and these flanges are provided with medially ofiset notches which engage correspondingly ofiset tongues on the ends of the blade. The blade, in order that it may present one yielding edge, is provided with means in its wide side for adding flexibility to that side, such for example as a slot extending for most of the length of the blade.

In the accompanying drawing in which I have illustrated a preferred embodiment of my invention, Figure l is an end view of the assembled razor; Figure 2 is a transverse section on an enlarged scale taken along line 22 of Figure 5 and showing the relation between the holder and blade when the latter is flexed and in shaving position; Figure 3 is a section similar to Figure 2 but taken along line 33 of Figure 5 Figure 4 is an enlarged perspective of the cap with the underside shown uppermost; Figure 5 is a bottom view of the guard with the handle removed, but with the blade and cap in position; Figure 6 is a bottom view of the cap with the blade in position and with the guard and handle removed, and Figure 7 is a View of the blade itself.

The razor illustrated in this drawing comprises a cap or clamping member I, a guard plate 2 and a handle 3. A flexible double-edged blade 4 is held between and flexed by the cap and guard as illustrated in Figures 2 and 3. Assembly of the parts is efiected through a screw-threaded pin 5 depending from the middle of the cap I, passing through a slot 6 in the blade, a hole 'I in the guard plate and threadedly engaging the upper end of the handle, all as illustrated in Figure 2. As also illustrated in Figure 2 the radius of curvature of the cap is somewhat less than that of the guard plate thus providing a space between the two in which the blade can be flexed when under pressure, as I shall describe presently.

The ends of the cap are provided with depending flanges 8 which overhang the ends of the guard. These flanges are provided with notches 9 ofiset from the longitudinal center line of the cap and designed to receive corresponding tongues I0 in the ends of the blade, these tongues being likewise offset from the center line of the blade. The tongues II], entering one pair of the notches 9, locate the blade with reference to the cap and the cap and blade are positioned relative to the guard when the razor parts are assembled.

The tongues Ill effectively divide the blade into two operating sections one considerably wider than the other and designated by the letters A and B in Figure 3. When the parts are assembled as illustrated in Figure 3 the wide section A of the blade abuts against the flanges 8 at points I2 and the section B abuts against flanges B at points I3. The section A of the blade is distinctly bowed by the flexing action of the cap and guard so that pressure exerted against the shaving edge on that side of the blade during shaving tends to bow the blade still further, the space between the cap and guard due to their difierences in curvature afiording ample space for this bowing action, and the slot 6 being wide enough to allow pin 5 ample clearance. Section A, therefore, presents a resilient and yielding cutting edge to the beard and this resiliency is increased by increasing the flexibility of that part of the blade as, for example, by providing it with a slot 6 lying between the abutting points I2 and the shaving edge. Section B of the blade, on the contrary, is much narrower and in comparison with section A is only slightly flexed. There is, therefore,'much less tendency for this section of the blade to yield during shaving, and for this reason it presents a more rigid and less yielding shaving edge to the beard.

I have illustrated two pairs of notches 9 in the cap flanges 8. I do this in order that the blade may be reversed in the holder, but it is to be understood that the blade is provided with but one pair of tongues I and that these tongues divide the blade into two sections of unequal widths and flexibilities.

I claim:

1. A safety razor comprising a handle, a blade holder symmetrically disposed with respect to said handle, a flexible double-edged blade, means holding the blade at a place on the far side of the handle from one of its cutting edges and dividing said blade into areas of different flexibility, each area including a cutting edge and a slot in the blade between the place where it is held and said remote cutting edge.

2. In a safety razor comprising a handle, a cap, a guard, an interposed flexible blade, said cap, guard and blade being symmetrically disposed with respect tosaid handle and means for drawing the cap and guard together to flex the blade, the combination of interengaging means on the cap and blade to hold the blade against lateral displacement, said interengaging means being off set from the longitudinal center line of the blade on one side only and dividing said blade intoareas of different flexibilities with the area of greater flexibility extending across the center line.

3. In a safety razor comprising a handle, a cap,

a guard, an interposed double-edged flexible blade, said cap, guard and blade being symmetrically disposed with respect to said handle and means for drawing the cap and guard together to flex the blade, the combination of depending end flanges on the cap, notches in the flanges oflset from the longitudinal center line of the cap, and corresponding tongues on the blade offset from the longitudinal center line of the blade, said notches and tongues holding said blade and dividing said blade into areas of different flexibilities extending to the blade cutting edges.

4. A safety razor comprising a handle, a blade holder symmetrically disposed with respect to said handle, a double-edged blade held flexed symmetrically with respect to its longitudinal axis by said holder for use of both edges, said blade having a centrally positioned longitudinally extending slot and engaging means on said blade and holder at a greater distance from one blade edge than the other, said engaging means positioning said blade with respect to said holder and said blade having one edge adapted to yield more readily than the other edge when said blade is held in flexed condition by the holder.

5. In a safety razor comprising a handle, a cap, a guard, an interposed flexible blade having a cutting edge and said cap and guard being symmetrically disposed with respect to said handle and means for drawing the cap and guard together t-o flex the blade, the combination of interengaging means on the cap andblade to hold the blade against lateral displacement, said interengaging means being on the opposite side of the longitudinal center line of the cap from said cutting edge, said blade having a slot intermediate the engaging means and cutting edge and providing an area between the interengaging means and said cutting edge adapted to flex further under pressure applied to the edge when the blade is held in flexed condition by the cap and guard.

JOSEPH E. MoWILLIAMS. 

